Abstract
Zong Baihua's “Chinese aesthetics” argued for the legitimacy of traditional Chinese painting in the modern world. However, it was not a simple “incorporation” of traditional Chinese aesthetic viewpoints, but a modern interpretation of classical Chinese arts centered on the “dynamic” spirit. His work benefited from Europe's longing for Chinese culture after the outbreak of World War I, as well as domestic opposition to the idea of “wholesale Westernization”. Moreover, Guo Moruo's interpretation of the debate between motion and stillness in Confucian and Daoist philosophy was highly inspiring and laid important theoretical groundwork for the construction of Zong Baihua's “Chinese aesthetics”. Meanwhile, Zong Baihua's reflections on the relationship between motion and stillness gradually led to the fusion of the Eastern consciousness of “serene contemplation” and the Western spirit of “striving forward”, reflecting his ideal vision of integrating resources and reconstructing culture behind the construction of “Chinese aesthetics”.
Keywords
Zong Baihua, Chinese aesthetics, dialectics of motion and stillness
First Page
14
Last Page
23
Recommended Citation
Zheng, Haoyue. 2025. "Dialectics of Motion and Stillness: The Theoretical Foundation of Zong Baihua's Construction of “Chinese Aesthetics”." Theoretical Studies in Literature and Art 45, (1): pp.14-23. https://tsla.researchcommons.org/journal/vol45/iss1/2
